Stargazing At St. Andrews

Peopletalk

March 30, 1986|By Martha Gross, Staff Writer

Back when she was a movie star, everybody adored Alice Faye. They still do. ``I`ve been in love with you all my life, and that`s the truth,`` Harry Goldstein told her simply but eloquently when he met the star at the recent Arthritis Foundation ball at St. Andrews Country Club. Faye was the celebrity guest at An Affair to Remember, staged to raise funds for an arthritis clinic at Boca Raton Community Hospital.

Goldstein`s declaration was one of many. Throughout the reception hour, guests who had enjoyed Faye`s movies of the `30s and `40s - Lillian Russell; Hello Frisco, Hello; Alexander`s Ragtime Band; George White`s Scandals; and others - approached to pay homage.

Gov. Bob Graham and wife Adele were honorary chairmen for the do; Steve (president of the Boca Raton Hospital) and Maryann Ladika were distinguished guests, Helene Tuchbreiter was the Palm Beach chairman, and Marge and Dick Abrams were general chairmen. (Got that all straight? We might ask questions later.)

You`d never guess this was the first ball the Abrams have ever chaired. They suffered no beginners` blues. ``You just do whatever needs to be done and it all works,`` Abrams said. ``Everybody on the committee put their two cents in and did a hell of a job. And Jerry Ansel (former owner of St. Andrews) was a big help. We were the hustlers and he was the hustlee. He gave us whatever we asked for.``

Naturally, the ball was a sellout. Rheumatologist Joseph Forstot and missus Nancy, Ted and Joan Pass, Richard and Gail DuPuis, Ann and Gary Uphouse, Betty and Bob Johnson, Betty and Jordan Ginsburg, Maureen and Leo Quinn, and Eugene and Carmel Quinn were all there. Lawrence and Isabelle Paul of Boca came with Billie Shupp and Paul Roberts.

Milton Hoffman sat between those romantic newlyweds Adelaide and Miles Zisson. ``I`m the chaperone,`` he explained. ``These two are so romantic, we have to keep them apart or it`s embarrassing.`` Florence Hoffman, by the by, was responsible for the stunning decorations - towering, iris centerpieces and mannequins in `30s and `40s dress. ``It`s all so beautiful, someone should get married here,`` Mitzi Donoff said. (Hubby Craig leads the WDBF radio program Money Talks and writes a monthly newspaper column on wills and trusts.)

Faye hadn`t been back to Palm Beach since she appeared here with Rudy Vallee, lo, these many years ago. But Palm Beach hadn`t forgotten her. ``She`s a lady,`` Goldstein said after he and his wife, Mimi, chatted with her. ``And still lovely - a really beautiful person.``